https://frederikkemurillo.com/https://frederikkemurillo.com/favicon.pngFrederikke Murillohttps://frederikkemurillo.com/Ghost 2.9Tue, 26 May 2020 08:07:24 GMT60Generation green is fighting off non-biodegradable plastic while dressed in it disguised as faux fur

We’re living in a plastic world. Quite literally. We have too much plastic andwe don’t know how to get rid of it – it’s either pilling up on landfills orfloating around

]]>https://frederikkemurillo.com/should-faux-fur-replace-the-real-deal/5eb5b9dc235bca0001eba733Fri, 08 May 2020 19:59:22 GMTGeneration green is fighting off non-biodegradable plastic while dressed in it disguised as faux fur

We’re living in a plastic world. Quite literally. We have too much plastic andwe don’t know how to get rid of it – it’s either pilling up on landfills orfloating around the ocean – but it’s not going away. As companies, such asCoca-Cola is working on making its plastic bottles completely recycable by 2030and Johnson & Johnson are switching from plastic to paper cotton buds, thefashion industry is welcoming plastic into the world of luxury concealed under alabel of faux fur.

A shift towards an anti-fur fashion industry became apparent when fashion-giantGucci last fall announced its distance from fur, only to be joined by brandssuch as Versace, Donna Karan and latest Maison Margiela.

“With leading luxury brands including Gucci, Versace and Tom Ford announcing amove to fur-free, we are expecting to see a massive shift in the fashionindustry following their influence,” says Rebecca Wallace content manager atPositive Luxury, an online platform promoting positive consumption andsustainable brands.

And the change hasn’t only been limited to the brands. At the beginning of thisyear Norway pledged to close its fur farms by 2025 making it the first Nordiccountry to do so while UK MP’s are looking to completely ban the import of fur.Likewise, San Francisco will be the first major US city to completely ban salesof fur by January 2019.

“Ethical fashion has become the top priority for the new breed of consumers, andtherefore also for the entire supply chain,” Wallace argues. “Millennials viewthemselves as global citizens with a responsibility to live more ethically andsustainably, and are deeply into the brands and companies they purchase from,expecting full disclosure of their values and practices. Many luxury brands haverealised this, and are taking strive to connect with the new wave of consciousconsumers by going fur-free.”

And while these initiatives indicate a more united fashion industry standingagainst cruelty and unreasonable killings of animals, anti-fur hasn’t exactlyimplied fur-less with several designers opting for the plastic replacementinstead.

The man-made material featured in Gucci’s latest resort collection and was alsoheavily visible on the fall 2018 catwalk at Givenchy, a brand that has equallydeclared its goodbyes to animal pelts. On top of that the phenomenon has greetedhigh-end faux fur designer brands such as Shrimps and Charlotte Simone.

And it is not without reason, consumer demand for faux fur has increased 10 percent over the last couple of years suggesting the material as the next bigbusiness.

However, faux fur might not involve the use of animals but it is madepredominantly from non-biodegradable plastic materials giving it a complicatedlifecycle. The assumption that a shift to faux fur is equivalent of a shift tosustainability is therefore not entirely true since fake fur wasn’t created as asustainable option. In fact, it wasn’t even made to save animals. Originally thematerial was created as a fast and cheap substitute to imitate luxury fur of theupper-class centuries ago.

“It used to be called fun-fur, and some of it was hideous actually,” Sandy Blackrecalls. She’s a professor of Fashion Textile Design and Technology who workswith Centre for Sustainable Fashion to create awareness around the environmentalimpact of fashion.

“Natural doesn’t equal good and synthetic doesn’t equal bad. It’s not assimplistic as that,“ she argues. “It’s animals versus minerals, and there isn’talways one answer. We have to look at it holistically. It’s easy to pick up oneissue and think good or bad but I feel that’s too naïve. There needs to be muchmore information and then consideration.”

Although there is a current rise in the use of fake fur it hasn’t completelyended the sale of animal fur. The fur industry still turn over a double-digitsbillion revenue yearly. Indeed, none of the brands relying on fur sales hasconveyed to its synthetic opponent. Although the move from Gucci was considereda turning point, fur sales only accounted for piddling 0.16 per cent of thebrand’s turnover last year.

Instead of persuading fur regulars faux fur caters for a new consumer-base whowould never touch animal fur to begin with. Rather than resolving the furproblem a move to fake fur leaves us with two furry dilemmas.

“While faux fur caters for a new consumer base of Millennials and Gen Z, whobelieve in positive fashion, real fur is unlikely to disappear from fashioncompletely,” Wallace says. “It is somewhat similar to the vegan versusvegetarian debate – meat eaters still exist, just like fur wearers do.”

Fur has a culture in many countries as being a symbol of status and wealth. Ofcourse, the idea of wearing animal skins stems back from when our ancestors usedto hunt animals for food, but later it turned into a product reserved for royalsand the mere elite, outlining the luxury standing of the material. By thebeginning of the nineteenth-century fur moved into Hollywood and became a stapleof the trophy wives giving weight for the production of cheaper faux fur copiesfor people of lesser rank.

“It’s about what fur does for people,” Black argues. “We have to look more atthe cultural aspect as to why they want it in the first place because I thinkthat’s difficult to substitute with a synthetic of any kind. What you get fromthe physical quality of fur is very hard to replicate.”

Naomi Bailey-Cooper, a PhD candidate researching alternative embellishments toexotic animal materials such as fur, agrees that the fake fur options currentlyon the market might not appeal to neither fur-buying customers or designersworking with fur. She suggests the industry start looking for otherreplacements. “Many fur alternatives focus on an engineered aesthetic replicaproduct rather than opening up and exploring other appealing factors that furhas,” she says.

“I think there could be a product which accommodates both sustainability andanimal rights issues. You see this being developed in leather alternatives suchas Modern Meadow and leathers from waste such as Vegea and Frumat. So there is alot of work that can be done for furs and other types of animal materials too,”Bailey-Cooper acknowledges.

Faux fur might save the animals but if it ends up killing the planet instead weneed another alternative because as we’re learning; there really is no suchthing as plastic fantastic.

]]>Why we should talk about periods to save the planet

It’s that time of the month again. The regular evil has announced its arrival,your body turns bloated and you instantly find yourself reaching towards thechocolate drawer in search of comfort. The fewest of us enjoy being on

]]>https://frederikkemurillo.com/plastic-free-periods/5eb5b8fb235bca0001eba72bFri, 08 May 2020 19:57:59 GMTWhy we should talk about periods to save the planet

It’s that time of the month again. The regular evil has announced its arrival,your body turns bloated and you instantly find yourself reaching towards thechocolate drawer in search of comfort. The fewest of us enjoy being on ourperiods and most of us are far too concerned about getting through the weekwithout a code red to worry about the materials in the products we use to manageit. But maybe we should worry. According to NatraCare conventional menstrualproducts contain up to 90 per cent plastic. Non-biodegradable plastic that is,hence the tampon you just flushed away forever is most likely to outlive bothyou and generations to follow. In fact, it is estimated that one in everyhundred piece of plastic in the ocean is either an applicator, pad or wipe.Fancy a swim?

This year has seen a world waking up to the consequences the excessive waste ofdisposable plastic is causing. The prospect of oceans filled with more plasticthan fish by 2050 has made the UK government aiming towards a complete ban ofall single-use plastic as early as next year. And with plastic found in most onetime-use products, the ban will include everything from cotton buds to straws tofood packaging and disposable coffee cups. However, consistently overlooked, isthe menstrual products which contributes more than 200,000 tonnes of plasticwaste per year.

“The plastic issue in period products is a quite unknown problem,” says NatashaPiette-Basheer, coordinator at the Environmenstrual campaign issued by Women’sEnvironmental Network in April this year. The campaign is a revamp of WEN’s veryfirst campaign for more transparency on the packaging of sanitary products backwhen the organisation was started in the late 1980s. “This issue has kind ofbeen in the DNA of WEN since the organisation started,” she adds.

“With the Environmenstrual campaign we’re aiming to amplify the environmentalissues around menstruation which are normally overlooked,” Piette-Basheer goeson. The campaign is, along with topics of health and transparency concerningmenstruation, raising awareness about the issues around plastics in disposablenon-organic period products. The campaign is working closely with activists,organisations and sustainable manufacturers with the hope of culminating it allin a week of action in October to raise awareness about the message. “We hope todo a period themed fashion show with the idea of breaking the taboo aroundmenstruation while also raising awareness about more sustainable menstrualproducts,” she says.

And more awareness is needed as the issues surrounding plastics in sanitaryproducts are more pressing than acknowledged. Women on average use over 11,000disposable menstrual products in a lifetime and almost 50 per cent of Britishwomen flush their disposable tampons and pads down the loo, which according toWEN equals around 2 billion menstrual products pouring down the sewers andstraight out into seas or landfills.

“We’re now getting that periods should be normalised and that the environmentalside of it should be addressed as well. Because both these topics have arisen atthe same time WEN is able to marry the two and act as a convening network forother organisations activism so we can final smash all the shame aroundmenstruation,” Piette-Basheer explains.

But sustainable options such as menstrual cups, reusable pads or periods pantiesdo already exist they are just not broadly advertised.

“The main challenge is to integrate this into menstrual education so it’s wherewe need to start,” Piette-Basheer points out. “But I think once people haveaccess to the information it makes a difference. Many of the participants in ourworkshops start thinking differently about the lifecycle of the products they’reconsuming and not just that it’s out of sight out of mind after they’re used.”

“The more people talk about the issue with plastic in period products the morelikely it is that we will have plastic free periods in the future and I think wecan all be agents to make that change,“ she encouragingly ends. So, while you’recommitting to end plastic waste by switching to reusable coffee cups and paperstraws why not throw sustainable menstrual products on the list as well – afterall menstrual products are a necessity but they shouldn’t harm us nor theplanet.

]]>I sat down with Ludovic Blanc, founder of London-based natural dry cleanerBlanc, to uncover the future of garment careDespite fashion currently taking a punch to its wasteful and often unethicalproduction processes, for we consumers it can still seem an inaccessible topic.However, while we are not directly]]>https://frederikkemurillo.com/dry-cleaning-is-not-dry-its-toxic/5eb5b881235bca0001eba720Fri, 08 May 2020 19:54:22 GMT

I sat down with Ludovic Blanc, founder of London-based natural dry cleanerBlanc, to uncover the future of garment careDespite fashion currently taking a punch to its wasteful and often unethicalproduction processes, for we consumers it can still seem an inaccessible topic.However, while we are not directly responsible for the way our clothes areproduced we are responsible the environmental impact they have after purchase.

According to Greenpeace, if clothes were kept for just three more months, onaverage it would reduce their carbon and water footprints by five to ten percent.

Watch the video

]]>In a time where fashion tackles social issues, Weekday takes a stand againstviolenceFashion is getting political. We see it on the catwalk, as well as theincreasing amount of industry people speaking up, and now we see it on thehigh-street.

In a time where fashion tackles social issues, Weekday takes a stand againstviolenceFashion is getting political. We see it on the catwalk, as well as theincreasing amount of industry people speaking up, and now we see it on thehigh-street.

As always, high-street giant H&M group is in the lead – H&M has teamed up withWWF to reduce waste and as of this summer Monki’s head office got LGBTQcertified.

Now Weekday, a brand known for its ability to grasp the zeitgeis,t has taken astand against violence.

Earlier this month the retailer presented its new Peace Force initiative incollaboration with the non-profit organisation The Non-Violence Project.

The collaboration involves a Peace Force network, entailing nine individuals,who have been affected by violence and choose to fight for a peaceful future.Along with that, a limited collection inspired by The Non-Violence Project’sknotted gun symbol was released, offering Weekday’s customers a chance topromote the peaceful message as well.

“This project is very much a collective effort,” explains Blaise Oberson, CEO ofThe Non-Violence Project Foundation. “We bring our extensive experience workingwith educational initiatives and teaching non-violence communication, whileWeekday created a collection inspired by our work and found spokespeople withintheir target group who could continue the work of NVP for a new audience.”

And getting the message to reach a wider audience is important for TheNon-Violence Project. The organisation has operated since 1993 but is stillrather unknown to most of the youth today.

“A collaboration with a fashion brand like Weekday that attracts young people,is a way for us to further spread awareness about our organisation, what we doand why we do it. We want to reach out to young people around the world and afashion collaboration opens a window we don’t usually have,” Oberson says.

For Weekday, political projects are far from uncommon. The brand has a historyfor advocating issues within the fashion industry and society as whole.

Karin Hagman, PR manager at Weekday says: “We are not a brand that shies awayfrom complex topics. We want to speak up about the things that are important tous and as we have a platform to say something, it would be horrible if wedidn’t.”

She adds: “If you read the paper or watch the news, you know that streetviolence, domestic violence and cyberbullying are a major problem throughout theworld. Something needs to be done and we want to engage people in thatconversation.”

Today only two out of ten adults in the UK are likely to experience crime. But,although the number of violent crimes is decreasing those that do happen areoften more harmful. Last year, there was an increase of 22% for knife relatedcrimes together with an 11% increase in crime involving firearms.

And violence does not only amount to the physical kind. It entails acts ofcyberbullying and verbal abuse as well. The latter being the second most commonreason for children need protection in the UK.

“Even though there is a great deal of violence, there is also a lot oflike-minded individuals who are frustrated by the political and socialsituations that surround them, and who are fighting for change in theircommunity,” says Hagman. “With this project, we tried to connect those fightingfor peace, to give them a new platform to share their voice while also sharingour own demand for peace.”

Buying a scarf might not turn a violent home into a calm one, but it starts aconversation about violence.

“We believe that to help promote a more peaceful society we need to address theproblem instead of ignoring it. Fashion is a very strong messaging tool, andhopefully, when a fashion brand speaks up it gets the attention of people whomight not know how to get involved or make their own statement,” Hagman adds.

Accompanying the project is a short film presenting the nine Peace Force memberswho, across different languages, share their individual stories with violence toshow that no one is alone in their experiences.

“With this peace force team, we can tell other people that they are not alone inexperiencing violence. We can tell them that no matter how difficult theirexperiences were, we can use those experiences as an inspiration and a drive tospeak up and stand up for something positive,” says Oberson.

This is only the beginning for the Peace Force. With this project Weekday hopesto start at three-year collaboration with The Non-Violence Project, to helpinspire even more young people to stand up for peace.https://www.shiftlondon.org/fashion/weekday-and-the-non-violence-project-partners-for-peace/

]]>For the next generation of designers waste is not wasted

With another successful fashion month coming to a close, buyers and editorsalike are once again piecing together the trends and themes for the season. But,for a wave of young designers creating clothes simply for Instagram likes is no

]]>https://frederikkemurillo.com/turning-trash-into-runway-treasures/5eb5b759235bca0001eba710Fri, 08 May 2020 19:49:34 GMTFor the next generation of designers waste is not wasted

With another successful fashion month coming to a close, buyers and editorsalike are once again piecing together the trends and themes for the season. But,for a wave of young designers creating clothes simply for Instagram likes is nolonger enough. There has to be a deeper message behind their creations. Theincreasing awareness of environmental issues has meant that the concern for manyis sustainability, with young designers experimenting with the concept ofupcycling this season.

Upcycling, the act of recycling something to an outcome of high quality, iswidely used in interior design, but is a lesser-known practice in fashiondesign. Until now. French design prodigy, Marine Serre is at the forefront ofthe move. Upcycling is set to become the new vintage. Serre, who staged herFormula 1-inspired spring/summer 2019 collection during Paris fashion week,started working with the concept of upcycling last season, redesigning oldwetsuits or vintage scarves into couture-like dresses. Serre joins designerssuch as Jiri Kalfar, Nathalie Ballout and Christine Hyun Mi Nielsen – all ofwhom are retelling the story of couture as a feeling, rather than somethingprice determined.

Upcycling importantly deals directly with some of the waste that is beingdiscarded by the broader fashion industry. “Upcycling is one way of combattingthe problem of excess fashion produce, which is an issue as a result of theevolution of fast fashion and ever-changing trends,” argues Akanksha Kaila,founder of Refash an online platform featuring designers working with upcycling.The reality of fashion’s wasteful practice was brought to the surface thissummer when luxury-giant Burberry admitted to burning stock worth £28.6 millionto avoid its sought-after goods falling into the hands of imitators. While theworld was shocked to discover that burning stock is common practice at manybrands, for fashion insiders the extent of waste in the industry is a well-knownsecret.

“We see how much waste has been generated by generations before us and know thatdesign needs to be sustainable to be functional in its true sense. We have beena consumption driven global economy, which is only now taking notice of thecollateral damage that has been done,” Kaila says.

A 2017 report from the Ellen MacArthur Foundation revealed that only 1% ofmaterials used in fashion production is recycled into new clothes, with mostrecycled fabric being down-cycled to wiping cloths or mattress stuffing wherethey are likely to end their circulation before going to landfills.

Luckily, the growing number of upcycling designers are taking fashion’s wasteproblem as a challenge. One of them is Berlin-based designer Melisa Minca, whostarted the upcycling label in her own name in 2018. “I started teaching myselfto sew about three years ago. Upcycling, repurposing and reworking allowed me tolearn while experimenting, but also keep waste at a minimum,” she says.

And given fashion’s excessive waste problem in a time where sustainableawareness is a must-have it is perhaps not surprising more and more designersare turning to the practice of upcycling. “It’s a necessity,” Minca says. “Itshould be integral to how we operate in this society, because of the limitationsand scarcity of natural resources.”

Agreeing that there is a need for more circular practice, Ariel Ting, a designstudent of Whitecliffe College of Arts and Design in New Zealand who works withupcycled materials, says: “We as designers should be leading examples to othersand educating the people who are unaware of the linear economy they arecontributing to.”

“Most people have no idea regarding the issues of fast fashion and how harmfulthe industry is on a global scale. Designers who are passionate, not only aboutfashion but the message behind their work will feel the need to spread that,”she argues.

However, while upcycling might put your old clothes into good use its unlikelyto solve fashion’s waste problem on its own. “What’s necessary is a concertedeffort on all sides, including fast fashion companies,” Minca explains. “I thinkthe future of the fashion industry is very dependent on new technologies,whereas the future of upcycling comes down to people’s own creativity andwillingness to spread awareness of the issues the fashion industry is causing.”

“Upcycling as we know it today therefore serves more as a tool for raisingawareness for the bigger issue we face as a society and the unprecedented levelsof consumption,” she concludes.

During the summer of 2017 I interned at Schön! Magazine for two months. To read the pieces I wrote while working there simply click here.

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South Street Magazine was created as a group project on my fashion journalism course. It is a biannual publication themed around Peckham in south-east London. This first issued was focused on local values.

South Street Magazine was created as a group project on my fashion journalism course. It is a biannual publication themed around Peckham in south-east London. This first issued was focused on local values.

]]>Meet the woman who created the annual showcase Bold Tendencies turning the top floors of Peckham’s abandoned car park into a cultural summer attraction

When asking Hannah Barry, the gallery owner and founder of Bold Tendencies what she was hoping to achieve when she started her answer is simple.

]]>https://frederikkemurillo.com/hannah-barry-ten-years-of-being-bold/5eb5b1aa235bca0001eba701Fri, 08 May 2020 19:23:24 GMTMeet the woman who created the annual showcase Bold Tendencies turning the top floors of Peckham’s abandoned car park into a cultural summer attraction

When asking Hannah Barry, the gallery owner and founder of Bold Tendencies what she was hoping to achieve when she started her answer is simple. “I didn’t have any hopes,” she says. “The honest answer is to tell you the truth and that is that I didn’t have any. I was just, and still am, so immersed in doing this. But I did not imagine to be where I am today when I started.”

Bold Tendencies, which is based in the disused car park just off Rye Lane, has been an annual summer platform since 2007. Open for visitors to come and experience visual art installations, architecture and classical music all while enjoying cocktails at Frank’s Café.

And even though plans were not big from the beginning the project has grown larger by the years and is now a cultural site attracting people from all over London in the summer period. “I would say that the most important thing that we have been able to achieve over these ten years is a lot of progress,” Hannah says.

“But I don’t think things should be measured by achievements and benchmarks but rather by how much progress you are able to make and how much you are able to learn from your mistakes and missteps or things that don’t go right rather than things that do go right,” she adds.

The beginning of Bold Tendencies happened after Hannah attended an exhibition at the Chelsea College of Art. “I met an artist called Shaun McDowell. He was organising an exhibition here in Peckham at the Bar Storey, which had a gallery space at the back, and he asked if I would come and see the exhibition. I thought he was an exciting person and I sort of followed him like people followed the ‘pied piper’.”

After a while she began setting up exhibitions with Shaun and a group of artists at Lyndhurst Way which later developed into her own gallery. “Each exhibition had a very basic subject to look at and the final exhibition was about making work for outside. That was the first Bold Tendencies exhibition and it was called ‘Bold Tendencies,’” she says.

The Multi-Storey Car Park which originally hosted a Sainsbury’s has for the past ten years been used for other purposes such as Bold Tendencies and a cinema.

Frank’s Café opened in 2009 at the top of the car park in as the first architectural project for Bold Tendencies. And as one of the first rooftop bars in London Frank’s has attributed to the growing attraction of the site ever since.

Moreover, an orchestra has been performing on the site since 2011, giving audiences an orchestral experience outside the regular concert hall. “We were very interested in classical music and the idea of it in addition to sculpture and architecture. It was an area where we could try and do something interesting,” Hannah says about the idea for the project, that since has grown into its own independent charity called The Multi-Storey Orchestra.

“Surrealism is about the encounter between two objects that shouldn’t be together. When you look at surrealist exhibitions, the first few are all about that and in a way we are doing this kind of accumulative idea in the carpark. There is some funny inspiration from that kind of thinking,” Hannah says.

Although the car park is now one of Peckham’s most popular places having attracted more than one million visitors, establishing it in Peckham was not Hannah’s decision. “I didn’t choose Peckham, it chose me,” she says. “I have always enjoyed being here. Something I certainly felt very intensely when I first visited Shaun here, was the sense that a lot of things were possible, and I had never experienced that as a young person living and working in London.”

“I had the sense that a lot was happening in London, but I didn’t necessarily feel a part of that. However, suddenly coming to visit Shaun in the environment which he and the other artists worked made me feel very welcome. It made me feel like a lot of things were suddenly possible,” she adds. “I think Peckham had a sort of no man’s land type of feeling. I think that it is the sort of permissiveness of the environment that made the opportunities arise rather than having a great strategy and a plan and an investment behind it.”

But the opportunities for Bold Tendencies continuation are doubtful. The building where the programme has been based for the past ten years is under proposal by the Council to be redeveloped when the contract ends in 2023.

Peckham Vision, a group of local activists, has been campaigning against the council’s proposition for changing the site. “There is no evidence or justification for this redevelopment. We are not saying that it can’t be done but we are asking for the argument for it to be done,” says Paula Orr a team member at Peckham Vision.

The local organisation hopes to get more people in Peckham involved in the campaign to make the Council drop their plans. “It is kind of a loss of a mass of things which have not really been weighed up against what they are producing for Peckham, if they go through with this,” Paula says.

Hannah, on the other hand seems less worried concerning the situation. “I think it is inevitable,” she says before explaining what will then happen to her establishment. “Bold Tendencies will have run its cause then,” she says calmly.

And knowing one project will reach its end, Hannah has turned her focus towards a new one, Bold Everywhere.

“Bold Everywhere is about what Bold Tendencies can do without the building,” she says.“Bold Tendencies exists because it is sort of like a funny system of opportunities where lots of different people can get involved at different moments. Bold Everywhere is a more formal mechanism to deliver that kind of system of opportunities. In particular, for very young people from primary school age children up to twenty-five year olds.”

“It also includes our art trainee program which is a kind of traineeship for people interested in a career in the arts or culture to have a practical and learning experience at the same time,” she adds. “So if we doing anything at the moment that is what we are doing.”

Photo: Trishna Goklani

]]>As more people start experimenting with the ease creating more establishments start to offer craft workshops. One of them is Peckham Craft Weekend

Peckham Craft Weekend opened its doors for the first time in May this year after four hectic weeks of non-stop planning for the two Peckham-based founders, Rachael

]]>https://frederikkemurillo.com/made-by-me/5eb5b198235bca0001eba6feFri, 08 May 2020 19:23:06 GMTAs more people start experimenting with the ease creating more establishments start to offer craft workshops. One of them is Peckham Craft Weekend

Peckham Craft Weekend opened its doors for the first time in May this year after four hectic weeks of non-stop planning for the two Peckham-based founders, Rachael Pilston and Chloé Phelps. “We went to the Copeland Gallery hoping that they would give us the space for next year, but they were so keen for this to happen that we decided to do it now,” Rachael says about the tight planning schedule.

The event aimed at putting Peckham’s craft community on the map along with inviting everyone interested to come and learn about what is happening around the hand-making industry today.

A weekend long celebration of the handmade was created starting with an exhibition showcasing the work of thirty different artists specialising in everything from pottery, textile, jewellery and print. This was followed by two days of various workshops and talks open for anyone interested.

The hope for the two founders is that the event will continue annually. “We hope for it to become a yearly event where people are excited to show their new work and see what everyone else has been up to through the year,” says Chloé.

But the organisation will be about more than the annual weekend. The two women are already planning to set up workshops as a part of the upcoming Peckham Festival this September and for smaller monthly happenings to continue the conversation around craft and hopefully start new ones as well. “We really enjoy the workshop element. They were such a success and definitely something we will continue to work on in the future,” says Rachael. With Chloé adding: “This has given us so many ideas and the responses have been so positive, so we want to keep doing little things every month like workshops, talks and things like that.”

“There is a shift in people wanting to create things in their free time at the moment. People want to spend their time learning a new skill, and craft is an accessible way of doing that. I think that is what the improved interest in workshops is about,” says Rachael.

And workshops are increasingly in demand when it comes to craft. “Craft is a very accessible and lovely thing, and we do see a lot of people from outside the craft community coming in and wanting to learn. If they do not want to learn how to make it they want to know how it was made or who made it,” says Chloé.

“People have no idea where things come from but now they are looking to learn which is so lovely. If you understand where things come from then you value them more so that is a big part of what we want to do, simply chat to people and tell them how it is made,” she adds.

Shirley Morgan-Knott was one of the participants in the patchwork workshop during Peckham Craft Weekend. She learned to sew from her dad and has since then developed her interest in making. “I signed up for the workshop because this particular skill was new to me, and because it is exciting to see craft being taken in a contemporary direction by young women,” she says.

“I have always loved making things since I was a child. It was actually my dad who taught me to sew on a hand Singer sewing machine. He was a child of the 1920s so the focus was very much about repairing things, being self-sufficient and finding creative solutions rather than buying new stuff,” she adds.

The reshaping of how the public both consume and interpret the handmade has made way for a movement of DIY-artists and makers. Shirley is one maker who hopes to establish herself within the craft industry without an expert degree behind. “I worked in the corporate sector for a long time but am now hoping to develop a career in creative practice, so making things is currently both my work and my hobby,” she says.

In fact craft has never been an exclusive industry. The rise of amateur makers started as far back as the Industrial Revolution, when supplies and tools began to be produced in a commercial manner, which made it possible for anyone to buy and use. This resulted in an increased number of middle-class workers in the nineteenth century wanting to fill their spare time with creating.

“Craft used to be passed on through generations and it is kind of crazy that it has just been taking out of the home,” says Chloé. She encounters many people who have not learned the skills of hand-making from home, but now hopes to learn and be able to pass it on to their children.

Rachael also meets many people eager to learn. “I have recently done a workshop at an adult learning centre and it was really amazing to meet so many people interested in craft all based here in Peckham. I think it is a big part of what makes Peckham great at the moment,” she says. She believes the interest has to do with the therapeutic aspect of craft, and people needing to spend time making something to escape from their busy everyday lives.

But while the two artist plan to expand their organisation in the future to continue welcoming everyone interested in learning craft, they are determined to do it their own way. “We are not a craft fair. We are more about learning and sharing,” says Chloé.

Their aspiration is not to create a place for makers to sell their work but a place for people to further learn about the skills of craft.

“We would like to create a workshop space or a pop-up which would then appear in lots of spaces to continue all the conversations. Peckham Craft Weekend would not only be based in Peckham. It would be popping up all over the country to make links outside of this community as well. That is the dream,” says Rachael.

“But of course bringing it all back to Peckham,” they both agree.

]]>From taking a look at the SS17 catwalks it seems the bralet is expected to emerge into our visible wardrobe this spring

The wireless bra top known as the bralet was seen repeatedly on the runway for next spring with labels like Victoria Beckham, Alexander Wang and Prada as forerunners.

From taking a look at the SS17 catwalks it seems the bralet is expected to emerge into our visible wardrobe this spring

The wireless bra top known as the bralet was seen repeatedly on the runway for next spring with labels like Victoria Beckham, Alexander Wang and Prada as forerunners.

“You see the bralet worn a lot outside a tee or a shirt now, but I think that in the future we will see it worn alone, as a single piece of clothes, even more,” said Singing Lee, a styling and production student at London College of Fashion.

Celebrities and street style darlings are already picking up on the trend, which we all know means that it will be all over fashion soon.

But the bralet is no new invention. In fact the earliest bras seen in the 1920s and 1930s were a lot similar to what we today know as bralets.

Up until the First World War the bra did exist but it was overshadowed by norm of the corset. During the war many women took over working as the men went to war, and with the women’s new roles came the need for more practical undergarments.

After the war no one was planning on going back to the old corset, which from the beginning of the twentieth century had been under the accusations of damaging the health of their victims. So in 1914 the American Mary Phelps Jacob, known under the alias Caresse Croby, invented the modern bra, which was soft, short and divided the breasts naturally. The modern bra started a new trend with a much more straight-lined, liberated and androgynous look for women known as the boyish look.

The trend of the bralet has developed in the younger generation for some years, and is now taken to the runway. But we do not have to look far back in history to find a time where a trend like that was seen as completely inappropriate. Bralets and lingerie in general has always been associated with nudity, sexuality and seduction.

“We have more freedom in the way we dress now than before. And feminism is becoming really popular in fashion, so girls wants to show more of themselves instead being restricting in what they wear,” Lee said.

However, the bralet is actually not the first lingerie item to be turned in to common daywear, and accepted as a part of the visible wardrobe. In the 1990s the corset had its comeback on the catwalk. Designer Jean Paul Gaultier’s corset became exceptionally famous after Madonna wore it on her tour, and by the end of the decade almost every big design house had the corset included in its collection.

When the modern bra was invented in 1914 it told the story of women’s struggle for comfort and freedom. Today, a century later, it tells a story of a new rebellious form of freedom where women just want to be able to wear what they want.